fear of the unknown
462 Words
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### **Chapter Three: "Marwa's Disappearance"**
Marwa wasn't popular or attention-seeking. An ordinary girl who sat in the second row near the window, completed her homework on time, and hid behind her books when the noise grew loud. But beneath the surface, she harbored a secret no one could uncover.
That morning, Alex arrived late as usual. The classroom felt different—students whispered with grim faces before lessons even began. Sliding into her seat, Alex nudged Hala:
*"What's happening?"*
Hala's fingers trembled: *"Marwa didn't come today... Her mother told the principal she never came home last night."*
Alex's throat tightened. *"She... disappeared?"*
*"They found her backpack by the school gate... books scattered like something tore through it."*
A silence heavier than death settled over the room.
By dusk, the news spread like a virus:
*"Missing high schooler!"*
*"Last seen near the back courtyard!"*
*"No witnesses, no traces!"*
But Alex knew something no one else did—she'd seen Marwa in last night's dream.
Screaming in darkness.
Reaching out with broken nails.
*"Alex... he's here! Don't let him touch—"*
She'd dismissed it as another nightmare.
Now Marwa was gone.
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### **Chapter Four: "The First Labyrinth"**
Four nights since the basement. Four nights since Alex stopped being human.
She sat at breakfast, staring through her milk as her mother set toast before her.
*"What's wrong?"*
*"Nothing."* The lie tasted like rust.
Every night, the same dream:
**A maze of pulsing walls.**
Stone breathed like living flesh beneath her fingers. The air reeked of wet earth and copper. At first, only her footsteps echoed—then the whispering began. A voice like rotting violin strings:
*"You belong to me... Little Alex..."*
Last night, the dream bled into reality.
She'd woken at 3:17 AM to dripping sounds. In the bathroom mirror, Marwa stood behind her—**not dead but worse.**
Hair strung with pond scum.
Lips sewn shut with black thread.
*"He's changing me..."* Marwa's voice bubbled like swamp water, *"...you're next."*
Then the laughter started.
Not Marwa's.
**His.**
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Now, as Alex opened her locker, a black envelope fluttered out. Inside, one line in jagged red script:
*"The labyrinth's gate opens with blood. Your blood."*
At midnight, she returned to school.
The storage room door **wasn't there yesterday.**
Warped oak. Rusty hinges.
It opened before she touched it.
The staircase swallowed her whole.
**Below,** the walls were made of faces.
Familiar faces.
Hanging from the ceiling by their ankles, Marwa grinned with needle teeth:
*"Welcome home."*
The shadow uncoiled from darkness—taller than physics allowed.
*"You're late,"* it crooned.
Alex stumbled back into a pool of **warm liquid.**
When she woke screaming in her bed, the mirror bore a new message in handprint-red:
*"One labyrinth down. Six to go."*
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- Writer
